134 Hunting Trips of a Ranchman 



it attentively I soon saw it move enough to satisfy 

 me where the head lay; kneeling on one knee and 

 (as it was a little beyond point-blank range) hold- 

 ing at the top of the portion visible, I pulled trig- 

 ger, and the bright-colored patch disappeared from 

 among the bushes. The aim was a good one, for, 

 on riding up to the brink of the ravine, we saw 

 a fine white-tail buck lying below us, shot through 

 just behind the shoulder; he was still in the red 

 coat, with his antlers in the velvet. 



A deer is far from being such an easy animal to 

 see as the novice is apt to suppose. Until the middle 

 of September he is in the red coat ; after that time he 

 is in the gray; but it is curious how each one har- 

 monizes in tint with certain of the surroundings. 

 A red doe lying down is, at a little distance, undis- 

 tinguishable from the soil on which she is; while a 

 buck in the gray can hardly be made out in dead 

 timber. While feeding quietly or standing still, 

 they rarely show the proud, free port we are accus- 

 tomed to associate with the idea of a buck, and look 

 rather ordinary, humble-seeming animals, not at all 

 conspicuous or likely to attract the hunter's atten- 

 tion; but once let them be frightened, and as they 

 stand facing the danger, or bound away from it, 

 their graceful movements and lordly bearing leave 

 nothing to be desired. The black-tail is a still 

 nobler-looking animal; while an antelope, on the 

 contrary, though as light and quick on its feet as is 

 possible for any animal not possessing wings to be, 

 yet has an angular, goat-like look, and by no means 



